Tony Gregory
Ceist:90 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Health the checks, if any, that are to ensure that all orphanages in this State are properly run. [4798/96]
Written Answers. - Orphanage Controls.
I should explain that children in residential care are no longer maintained in orphanages or similar type institutions that were designed to cater for large numbers of children. Since the early 1970's there has been a major shift away from the provision of care in such settings to smaller purpose-built group homes and other appropriately-sized residential units.
A number of important measures have been taken to promote the welfare of children in residential care and to protect them from abuse.
The most significant of these are the Child Care (Placement of Children in Residential Care) Regulations, 1995, which I brought into operation with effect from 31 October last. These regulations were made under Part IV of the Child Care Act, 1991, and govern the placement by health boards of children in their care in residential centres. They apply to residential centres operated by voluntary bodies as well those operated by the boards themselves.
The new regulations lay down detailed requirements to be complied with by health boards in relation to the placement of children in residential care, the conduct of residential centres for children provided by boards, the supervision, visiting and review of children placed in residential centres and the removal of children from such placements, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Child Care Act, 1991.
In particular, the new regulations require each health board to satisfy itself that adequate arrangements are in place at each residential centre to guard against the risk of injury and for the reporting and recording of accidents and injuries affecting children residing there; satisfy itself that procedures are in place for the prompt notification to the board of significant events affecting children placed there by the board; monitor standards in each residential centre in which the board has placed a child and ensure that the centre is visited from time to time by an authorised person; arrange for the supervision of children placed in residential centres by the board and for the children to be visited within prescribed intervals; and arrange for the periodical review of each child placed by the board in a residential centre.
The regulations are designed to ensure that children in residential care are visited, supervised and reviewed on a more systematic basis than before and that the changing needs of the children are not lost sight of. Full recognition is given to the role of parents, carers and, indeed, the children themselves in this process.
Part VIII of the Child Care Act, which relates to the registration of children's residential centres, will be brought into operation later this year.
I might also mention that, at a national level, it is proposed to establish, on a statutory basis, an inspectorate of social services in the Department of Health. This inspectorate will be responsible for quality assurance and audit of child care practice, and will undertake inquiries on behalf of the Minister for Health. I am confident that, together with the important new provisions relating to residential care under the Child Care Act, this will improve the safeguards and procedures for the protection of children in residential care.